DESIGN AGENCY will bring together the spectrum of research and creative practice currently occurring within the ACADIA community through the combined support of the research networks of the University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles and Southern California Institute of Architecture. Questions the capacity for computation to inform or challenge traditional design processes; computation as design operation – the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power, and/or computation as design instrumentality – the design mechanism through which power is exerted or an end is achieved.

ACADIA is an international network of digital design researchers and professionals. ACADIA supports critical investigations into the role of computation in architecture, planning, and building science, encouraging innovation in design creativity, sustainability, and education.

Exhibitions

ACADIA 2014 is hosting PLASTICITY, the 2014 TEX-FAB international digital design to fabrication Competition. Architects, designers and researchers are invited to participate. Plasticity seeks proposals for prototypical development of an architectural assembly that explores performance through composite structural systems and materiality.

Workshops

ACADIA 2014 ‘DESIGN AGENCY’ will be offering a wide range of specialized one, two, and three day workshops preceding the Conference from Saturday October 19 to Wednesday October 23 and following the conference on Sunday October 27. Workshop offerings cover topics ranging from scripting, simulation of complex systems, and digital fabrication with advanced manufacturers.

The 2014 ACADIA Conference will take place in Los Angeles, California, a global center of progressive design in architecture, digital media and entertainment. Hosted by the University of Southern California School of Architecture, and supported by the UCLA School of Architecture and Urban Design and the Southern California Institute of Architecture, the event will tap into the shared resources of the eight design schools, numerous engineering faculties, and countless industry ties that exist in the City of Angels.

The conference will incorporate a highly visible public program that will include public exhibitions, lectures, and tours to engage conference visitors with the city as well as the city with the conference.

The conference itself will take place on the campus of the University of Southern California, home of some of the most prestigious and innovative research faculties in the country. As a University that excels in multi-disciplinary collaborations and cross-industry fertilization, this years conference is an opportunity for ACADIA 2014 to expand the reach of the conference to blur the boundaries between the disciplines of Architecture, Computer Science, Engineering, Interactive Media and Cinema.

The collaboration with allied disciplines will allow ACADIA 2014 to expand its reach and define a precedent for conferences to come, describing the field of design as an expanded discipline that reaches and interacts with a wide spectrum of design professionals.

The primary venues utilized will the Davidson Conference Center, and Watt Hall on the USC campus, as well as the Loker Center at the California Science Center directly adjacent to the campus. The ACADIA Conference is expecting over 500 attendees including speakers, researchers, students and the general public. This number reflects people involved in the conference itself, while a much larger crowd will engage some of the public activities organized strategically to be in the eyes of the USC community and the Greater Los Angeles Design Community.